Nighttime swimming and ridin' with the silver surfers

Feeling well chuffed with my choice of hostel - great location, cheap price, clean and well run - I set my sights on putting together some options for the Swedish girls once they arrived in Budapest. After getting a good night's sleep - and fuck knows I needed it after the multiple disruptions from the night before - I was up and ready to meet them at Keleti station next morning.

It had started to rain but the walk there was quick and painless. Finally collecting the girls from their late-arriving train, I attempted to make the walk back to the hostel as uneventful but managed to wander too far down the street and get the poor girls soaked while I turned my map in all manner of directions.

Once safely delivered to the hostel, we headed for breakfast and decided then that we'd check out the House of Terror and try for some monuments in the big park. The rain persisting, quite appropriately, as we checked out the place of torture and interrogation during fascist and soviet rule, and by the time we finished we were more concerned with food than seeing monuments. I'd already seen them and they could always go after I left the next day.

At the hostel, I arranged to meet the American guy and his Slovakian girlfriend I met last time that owned an English school for a drink and talk about potential job opportunities. At this point, I left the Swedes to their own devices and pushed them in the direction of Buda. A few beers and one confirmation of work later, I'm scrambling around the city in the general direction of Buda and after arriving late, we scouted the uber-expensive restaurant district of Buda for some semi-reasonable food and drink.

Our meal, while tasty and not tooooo expensive, was most interesting because for the most part we spoke in the broken Romanian we'd learnt in the past 2 months. And it was pretty funny! Much easier to talk about the people around you when you're speaking a language virtually no one else would know. And we did alright!

We then headed off, at my suggestion, to the baths nearby for some night swimming. It took forever to find the damned things but when we did, we paid about £10 and went inside to the modern-day version of a Turkish bathhouse. Mostly young people, quite a few couples, gross Hungarian men staring at the women and even a woman with what I can only assume was Elephantisis on her legs. Mixed crowd.

We messed around wrestling and jumping in the different temperature pools before my alcohol-soaked brain started to melt in the water and we called it a night. Not too cheap but a good and unusual way to spend a Friday night, particularly with people who don't tend to drink much.

Now I'm on the plane to London with the silver surfers on BA (none of this low budget airline business!!), so very excited to see everyone! I need to get my cowboy boots fixed too. Pronto. Lots more use for them to come!!

Oh, and another Help X host contacted me from Wales asking for help in January at a cob stud. The website is quite good and the horses just beautiful, I'm seriously considering it but awaiting more info on what kind of training I'm needing to do. Cos I am OUT if it's dressage!!

The imitable Holly Penfield... and me?!

Hello my darlings!

Well, didn't I have a fantastic stroke of luck last night!

After seeing the wonderful Holly Penfield, cabaret singer with a penchant for raunching up even the tamest of swing standards (cue My Baby Just Cares For Me) at the Bathhouse (Boom Boom Club) for the second time last Thursday, I was enchanted enough to come along to another of her performances, this time at the Green Carnation in Soho.

Having met Ms Penfield in person at the Bathhouse, I was keen to see more of her and learn how to better myself as a cabaret performer. And I also love any chance to see cabaret, so really it was a selfish notion at the core.

I invited along two old friends from school in Australia, Tim and Tia, and we were entertained by all manner of songs interrelated to weather. Cute! But the real surprise came when Holly called my bluff and actually dragged me onto the stage to sing with her. And here I was thinking her suggesting it was just part of the act!

Not knowing a helluva lot of standards word for word, I was at a loss and any of the random ones I suggested the band didn't know. So I settled for Fever, with Holly whispering each line into my ear. Fun times. I don't believe I totally stiffed it and I got a big applause at the end - most probably for Holly's contribution - but it was super fun and I was only a little bit nervous. I'd like to thank Mr Half Price Bellini for that!

Holly said afterwards that she thought I had a lot of "emotion" in my voice and was really impressed, so that can only be a good sign. She also said we should get together and make some "plans", which also lends itself to positive forward direction methinks. Fingers crossed something comes of it!

So that's it for this dame, let's hope the next time we meet I'm still sweating from another turn on the stage :)

Luv, S. deL x